Kristen Hinman The New York Times
Near Sille-le-Guillaume, a rural patch of western France, Ginette Sybille moves some 8,000 fowls, 150 swine and 120 head of cattle on and off her 395-acre (160-hectare) farm each year. She conducts most of her business with slaughterhouses in the region, but each time an animal changes hands, Sybille has to register the transaction online with the government.
"We are managing with our dial-up Internet connection," she said, "but a faster one would make a big difference."
Sille-le-Guillaume's 6,500 residents call it "grove country." But the area's top official, Michel Quillet, is aiming for a new nickname: "rural technopolis." By May, it will become France's first testing ground for rural deployment of high-speed Internet service using the wireless networking standard called Wi-Fi.
Wi-Fi - short for wireless fidelity, and also known as 802.11b - allows computer users equipped with special network cards to connect wirelessly over a radio frequency to a ground station providing high-speed Internet service.
Its use is booming in airport lounges, hotels and cafés worldwide, but it is only starting to gain attention as an alternative to cable or phone lines for residential and commercial Internet service.
Until last November, France's regulatory agency for communications barred public use of Wi-Fi networks, whose frequencies had been reserved for military use. Now, 38 of France's 95 administrative jurisdictions, or departments, are authorized to experiment with Wi-Fi.
"We realized it could help rural communities," said Jean-Francois Hernandez, an agency spokesman.
While only about 1.5 million Internet users in France have high-speed connections at home through cable or phone lines, wiring is in place to provide such service to about three-quarters of France's 59 million residents. The prospects for increasing availability are limited, however, because operators say investment in rural areas is too costly.
Increasingly, rural residents thus feel stranded, even threatened.
"We are already so far removed," said Xavier de la Hitte, a graphic designer in the southwestern town of St.-Antonin-Noble-Val, "that we are the people who need broadband most. Without it, our businesses are doomed."
When he moved from Toulouse to the countryside in 1995, de la Hitte considered his business competitive. But once other firms had high-speed Internet access over phone lines and could send clients hefty graphic files with ease, he realized he was in trouble. France Telecom, which operates the town's phone network, had no plans to offer such service locally. So St.-Antonin and a neighboring commune, Caylus, joined to propose a trial Internet connection using a Wi-Fi network linked to a satellite receiver.
Altitude Telecom, based in the northern city of Rouen, is the operator for the Sille-le-Guillaume effort. A company engineer, Bertrand Lebarbier, said he saw the potential for 6,000 subscribers. Altitude Telecom is measuring demand to determine the number of antennas that will circle the commune. Each must be linked by another radio-based technology, known as fixed wireless, to Altitude's network in Alencon, 20 miles away. Lebarbier said the network would cost $270,000 and take about a month to put in place.
The Ile de Re, an island of 15,000 residents off the Atlantic coast, is also getting ready for Wi-Fi, but with a different approach.
Olivier Zablocki, a land development consultant, has received a license to build a network of 120 Wi-Fi locations on the island, connected to 10 satellite dishes providing the Net connection. He has formed a cooperative whose 120 members will underwrite 80 percent of the venture, which he expects to become profitable within three years.
Zablocki said that public access to wireless networks was overdue.
"Citizens, the very people who build networks, don't have the freedom to use them?" he asked. "That policy didn't make any sense." PARIS Near Sille-le-Guillaume, a rural patch of western France, Ginette Sybille moves some 8,000 fowls, 150 swine and 120 head of cattle on and off her 395-acre (160-hectare) farm each year. She conducts most of her business with slaughterhouses in the region, but each time an animal changes hands, Sybille has to register the transaction online with the government.
"We are managing with our dial-up Internet connection," she said, "but a faster one would make a big difference."
Sille-le-Guillaume's 6,500 residents call it "grove country." But the area's top official, Michel Quillet, is aiming for a new nickname: "rural technopolis." By May, it will become France's first testing ground for rural deployment of high-speed Internet service using the wireless networking standard called Wi-Fi.
Wi-Fi - short for wireless fidelity, and also known as 802.11b - allows computer users equipped with special network cards to connect wirelessly over a radio frequency to a ground station providing high-speed Internet service.
Its use is booming in airport lounges, hotels and cafés worldwide, but it is only starting to gain attention as an alternative to cable or phone lines for residential and commercial Internet service.
Until last November, France's regulatory agency for communications barred public use of Wi-Fi networks, whose frequencies had been reserved for military use. Now, 38 of France's 95 administrative jurisdictions, or departments, are authorized to experiment with Wi-Fi.
"We realized it could help rural communities," said Jean-Francois Hernandez, an agency spokesman.
While only about 1.5 million Internet users in France have high-speed connections at home through cable or phone lines, wiring is in place to provide such service to about three-quarters of France's 59 million residents. The prospects for increasing availability are limited, however, because operators say investment in rural areas is too costly.
Increasingly, rural residents thus feel stranded, even threatened.
"We are already so far removed," said Xavier de la Hitte, a graphic designer in the southwestern town of St.-Antonin-Noble-Val, "that we are the people who need broadband most. Without it, our businesses are doomed."
When he moved from Toulouse to the countryside in 1995, de la Hitte considered his business competitive. But once other firms had high-speed Internet access over phone lines and could send clients hefty graphic files with ease, he realized he was in trouble. France Telecom, which operates the town's phone network, had no plans to offer such service locally. So St.-Antonin and a neighboring commune, Caylus, joined to propose a trial Internet connection using a Wi-Fi network linked to a satellite receiver.
Altitude Telecom, based in the northern city of Rouen, is the operator for the Sille-le-Guillaume effort. A company engineer, Bertrand Lebarbier, said he saw the potential for 6,000 subscribers. Altitude Telecom is measuring demand to determine the number of antennas that will circle the commune. Each must be linked by another radio-based technology, known as fixed wireless, to Altitude's network in Alencon, 20 miles away. Lebarbier said the network would cost $270,000 and take about a month to put in place.
The Ile de Re, an island of 15,000 residents off the Atlantic coast, is also getting ready for Wi-Fi, but with a different approach.
Olivier Zablocki, a land development consultant, has received a license to build a network of 120 Wi-Fi locations on the island, connected to 10 satellite dishes providing the Net connection. He has formed a cooperative whose 120 members will underwrite 80 percent of the venture, which he expects to become profitable within three years.
Zablocki said that public access to wireless networks was overdue.
"Citizens, the very people who build networks, don't have the freedom to use them?" he asked. "That policy didn't make any sense." PARIS Near Sille-le-Guillaume, a rural patch of western France, Ginette Sybille moves some 8,000 fowls, 150 swine and 120 head of cattle on and off her 395-acre (160-hectare) farm each year. She conducts most of her business with slaughterhouses in the region, but each time an animal changes hands, Sybille has to register the transaction online with the government.
"We are managing with our dial-up Internet connection," she said, "but a faster one would make a big difference."
Sille-le-Guillaume's 6,500 residents call it "grove country." But the area's top official, Michel Quillet, is aiming for a new nickname: "rural technopolis." By May, it will become France's first testing ground for rural deployment of high-speed Internet service using the wireless networking standard called Wi-Fi.
Wi-Fi - short for wireless fidelity, and also known as 802.11b - allows computer users equipped with special network cards to connect wirelessly over a radio frequency to a ground station providing high-speed Internet service
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